Sourdough Bread (medium hydration)

I got this from the blog and YouTube channel Grant Bakes. The video is here: https://youtu.be/8ZTOwHbdkaE?si=DD7ls60_FRfdcH7G

It's not too fussy and the results are excellent. My oven doesn't get as hot as 500F, so I bake mine at around 425F - 25 covered and 23 minutes uncovered. I also use 8 grams instead of 25 grams of starter to make the levain. Below I put my method followed by Grant's method.

Ingredients:

400g bread flour

50g whole wheat flour

325g lukewarm purified water

100g sourdough levain

10g salt (preferably Diamond Crystal Kosher salt)

Sourdough Levain:

8g sourdough starter*

50g lukewarm purified water

50g bread flour

*ideally, you want the starter to be fed in the past week

My Method:

1. Making the sourdough levain - Friday night

The night before you want to make bread (two days before baking), take 8 grams of sourdough starter out of the fridge. Mix the starter with 50 grams of water and 50 grams of bread flour in a small jar. Cover with plastic wrap and let it sit on the counter overnight. It should double and look bubbly by the next morning. Then it's ready to use. This will create 108g but you'll only use 100g. The reason for the extra 8 grams is that some of the levain will stick to the jar.

2. Mixing the dough - late Saturday morning

Weigh out the bread and wheat flour and place in a large bowl. Mix. Separately, weigh out the water and salt. Mix to dissolve salt then add 100 grams of levain. Add the water, salt and levain mixture to the two bread flours. Mix well until combined. I use a nylon dough scraper to mix. It will be very sticky at first. When you don't see any dry bits of flour left, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let sit for 30 minutes on the counter.

3. Bulk fermentation - Saturday afternoon to evening

This is the step where the dough is fermenting, rising and getting stronger. It will take about 7 hours. The dough will still be sticky at this point. You want to grab an edge of the dough and stretch it up into the air without tearing it and fold it over the top of the dough. Turn the bowl 90 degrees and stretch and fold the next edge of the dough. After all 4 edges are stretched and folded, the dough should look more like a ball. If not, do another stretch and fold.

At this point I don't continue with stretch and folds. Instead I cup my right hand, which I use to rotate the dough ball around the bowl. This tightens the dough. I do this a few times until the dough is more tense. Then let sit for 30 mins. Then I'll rotate some more for a duration of about 30 seconds. The dough should look smoother and feel less stick by this point.

For the rest of the bulk fermentation I just rotate when I have a chance. It's doesn't need to be done every 30 minutes. It can be done whenever. I'll let the dough sit for a few hours without touching.

4. Pre-shape - Saturday evening

After about 7 hours I do this step. It's just a final dough rotation in the bowl. You want the dough ball to tighten up a bit. This is crucial and will help with the final shape.

Meanwhile, put a linen dish towel in a banneton proofing basket or bread pan and dust it liberally with flour.

5. Final shape - Saturday evening

About 5 minutes later - don't wait too long or the dough will relax - I carefully slide the dough out of the bowl onto a floured wooden cutting board. I arrange the dough gently into a large square. Take the right third of the square and fold it up and over the middle third of the square. Then, take the left third of the square and fold it up and over the middle third. Kind of like folding a letter. From one of the narrow sides, roll the dough into a tight cylinder. Like rolling a cinnamon roll. It should end up in a nice oval loaf shape. Optionally, you can pull the flaps on the ends of the dough and tuck them under the dough to create smooth sides. I usually do this because I find that the final loaf ends up looking more attractive. 

Flip the dough over carefully into the banneton proofing basket or a bread pan. It helps using a plastic bench scraper. It should end up upside-down in the basket with the seam-side-up. Pinch any seams together.

6. Proofing - Saturday night to Sunday afternoon

Cover your basket/baking pan with plastic wrap. Move it to the fridge where the dough can proof for at least 12 hours in the cold environment. If you have 18 hours, that's even better and you'll get more flavor.

7. Baking - Sunday afternoon

Lay out some heavy duty aluminum foil on the bottom rack of the oven. This shields some of the heat and prevents the bottom of the bread from burning. You want to bake the sourdough on a 2nd rack slightly higher than the bottom rack.

1 hour before you're ready to bake, pre-heat your oven to 425F with a Dutch oven inside. Once the oven is pre-heated, take your dough out of the fridge and transfer it from the banneton basket onto a sheet of parchment paper. 

I do this by putting a piece of parchment on a small cutting board that I then place on top of the basket/baking pan. Flip it over so that the basket/baking pan is on top and you're good. Sprinkle more flour on the dough. It looks nicer this way.

Score the dough with a razor blade from the far end to the near end. I don't slash it. I make a careful but deliberate slice an angle. This is an important step and allows the bread to expand while baking. 

Transfer the dough into your hot Dutch oven and put the lid back on. Bake for 25 minutes with the lid on, then remove the lid. Keep baking for another 23 minutes after that with the lid off. It won't be exactly 23 minutes. You need to gauge by the color of the bread. You want it slightly red-brown and the "ear", which is the extended part where the long cut was made, should be dark brown; but not burnt.

8. Cooling

Remove the bread from the oven and let it rest on a wire rack for at least one hour, or until it's completely cool. Slice in and enjoy!

Grant's Method:

1. Feeding your levain: The night before you want to make bread, take 25 grams of sourdough starter out of the fridge. Mix the starter with 50 grams of water and 50 grams of bread flour. Mark the top of the starter with a rubber band to mark how much it grows. 6-12 hours later, the starter should have doubled in size.
2. Mixing the dough: The following day, your starter should have grown to double in size. When this happens, it's ready to use for your dough. Put a mixing bowl on a digital scale so that you can weigh out your ingredients. Weigh in 325 grams of water and 100 grams of active sourdough starter. Mix the starter to dissolve. Add 10 grams of salt and stir the salt in to dissolve. Then, add the 50 grams of whole wheat flour and 400 grams of bread flour. Mix everything to combine. When there aren't many dry bits of flour left, cover up the dough and let it rest for 30 minutes on the counter.
3. Bulk fermentation: Bulk fermentation refers to the period of time starting from when you mix the dough, all the way up until you shape your dough. For this recipe, the bulk fermentation period should last about 6-8 hours depending on the temperature of your kitchen. (Colder kitchens will take longer and warmer kitchens will make the dough move faster.) During this 6-8 hour period, leave your dough covered and resting in a slighly warm or room-temperature spot on your counter. Your dough should grow to about double in size. During the first part of bulk fermentation, give your dough three sets of stretch and folds, with thirty minute rests in between.
4. Stretch and Fold #1: After the first 30 minute rest, perform the first set of stretch and folds. Grab an edge of the dough and stretch it up into the air without tearing it and fold it over the top of the dough. Turn the bowl 90 degrees and stretch and fold the next edge of the dough. Keep dough this with each of the "four corners" of the dough - the north side, west side, south side, and east side. Once you've stretched each of the four corners of the bowl, go around the bowl a few more times, stretching and folding the dough over itself until the dough becomes a little more smooth and cohesive. Once you've got a smooth ball of dough, cover up the dough again and let it rest on your counter for another 30 minutes.
5. Stretch and Fold #2: After the 30 minute rest, perform the second set of stretch and folds. Just stretch and fold the four corners of the dough this time. The dough should feel a little bit smoother and softer now than it did the last time. Cover up the dough again and let it rest for 30 more minutes.
6. Stretch and Fold #3: After the 30 minute rest, it's time for the third and final set of stretch and folds. Just stretch and fold the four corners of the dough again this time. The dough will really have transformed by now and should feel smooth, soft, and elastic. Prepare a clear glass bowl that's about twice the size of your dough with a little bit of oil. Transfer your dough, seam-side-down and smooth-side-up, into the prepared glass bowl. Cover the dough with a lid or a kitchen towel and let it bulk ferment for the remaining 5-6 hours. During this time, you should be able to see the dough growing through the sides of the glass bowl. When the dough increases to about double in size, it's ready to shape.
7. The Pre-shape: Carefully remove the dough from the bowl with a plastic dough scraper. Arrange the dough so that it is seam-side-down on your counter. Then, pre-shape the dough into a round ball with your hands or with the help of a metal bench scraper. Forming the dough into a round ball now will help give the dough better structure now, even if we want to form it into a different shape later. Let the dough rest, uncovered, in a draft-free spot on your counter for 30 minutes. If there are drafts in your kitchen, cover up the dough with a kitchen towel so that it doesn't form a hard crust on top.
8. The Final Shape: Prepare an oval-shaped banneton basket with a little bit of rice flour so that it's ready to go when your dough is shaped. Sprinkle a little bit of bread flour or rice flour on top of the dough and flip the dough over so that it is sticky-side-up and smooth-side-down. Now, arrange the dough gently into a large square. Take the right third of the square and fold it up and over the middle third of the square, Then, take the left third of the square and fold it up and over the middle third. Now, roll the dough in towards yourself into a tight cylinder. It should end up in a nice oval loaf shape. Optionally, you can pull the flaps on the ends of the dough and tuck them under the dough to create smooth sides. I usually do this because I find that the final loaf ends up looking more attractive. Flip the dough over carefully into the banneton proofing basket. It should end up upside-down in the basket with the seam-side-up.
9. Proofing: Move your basket to the fridge where the dough can proof for 8-12 hours in the cold environment. I usually just let it proof until whenever I'm ready to bake it the next day. While it's in the fridge, you can cover the dough up with a plastic bag if you want to, but I usually just leave my dough uncovered. It's just less fuss.
10. Baking: 30 minutes before you're ready to bake, pre-heat your oven to 450F with a Dutch oven inside. Once the oven is pre-heated, take your dough out of the fridge and transfer it from the banneton basket onto a sheet of parchment paper. Score the dough with one long slash with a razor blade from the far end to the near end (see video). Transfer the dough into your hot Dutch oven and put the lid back on. Bake for 20 minutes with the lid on, then remove the lid. Keep baking for another 20 minutes after that with the lid off.
11. Cooling: Remove the bread from the oven and let it rest on a wire rack for at least one hour, or until it's completely cool. Slice in and enjoy!